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Author
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Topic: 'Launch cover' cachets by Frau Jenny Schmiedl
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Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 06-18-2023 10:45 AM
   
I have fairly recently come across a few "launch covers" made by an unknown cachet maker in Austria. They are often, but not always, postmarked on the same date as the launch they celebrate. The postmark is local to Austria and therefore cannot technically be described as launch covers because the launches they celebrate are all either US or USSR rockets/satellites.They are made of plain card, usually off-white, of generic index-card dimensions, with a typed description to the left (usually in two different coloured inks, mostly black with red) which includes the name of the space shot (usually in red). The start (launch date) is usually included at the base of the description in the format 20.9.1967. In the top right quadrant there is a homemade printed vignette/label/Cinderella which is different for each spaceshot, but similar in style overall, being a modernist vague artistic interpretation, as opposed to an identifiable space vehicle based image. Next to the vignette is an Austrian postage stamp with a Krieglach cancellation. Below, in the bottom right quadrant, the card is addressed in typescript to Frau Jenny Schmiedl, Krieglach. Each card is individually hand numbered in the format of a limited edition such as 6/50. My presumption is that Frau Jenny is the cachet maker. I'm wondering if Frau Jenny is related to the rocket mail pioneer Friedrich Schmiedl. I would love to know the extent of her work (when they start and end; which subjects she uses and which she excludes). I do not own any, yet. The examples I saw on eBay were: - Cosmos-180
- Pazifik 2 start: 28.9.1967
- Tiros 10
- Titan 3C start: 18.6.1965
- Wostok-6
- USA Geheimsatellit start: 12.6.1963
- NIKE-APACHE start: 12.11.1964
- 1931 "V7"-1971 "Apollo 14"
The last one was hand addressed to Mr Freidrich Schmiedl. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 06-24-2023 10:47 AM
After careful study, I have just worked out that not only the cards themselves are enumerated as limited editions, but the "stamps" (vignettes) have hand written enumerations too. Most seem to be out of 96. The two sequences are not coordinated.Thus a typical card could have the designation 47/50 but with a stamp of 17/96. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 07-19-2023 01:16 PM
I finally splashed out and bought one. I've been looking for some time to acquire a flight 90/91 X-15a rocket plane cover postmarked Edwards AFB with no luck.And then on an internet search I came across a Jenny Schmiedl version:  This is similar to her satellite covers. It is postmarked in Krieglach on the day following the flight. It has black typed text with a red typed identifier (X-15). The card is hand numbered 15/50 and the vignette 48/96. The card appears of the right date. The stamp is correct for the year. Everything is consistent with her 'series.' The only possible anomalies are twofold. - The errichte hohe is given as 108km. The actual altitude for flight 90 was 106km, flight 91 achieved 108. But then again, initial reports of the altitude were adjusted later.
- The cancellation is very neat, bold and crisp. But other cancellations in her series do vary considerably, and the cancels themselves evolve over time. So I have no particular qualms about the authenticity of this item.
I just wish I knew more about Frau Jenny Schmiedl. |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 07-20-2023 02:23 PM
Jenny Schmiedl was the wife of the Austrian rocket pioneer Friedrich Schmiedl. After the war Schmiedl worked in Krieglach. Actually the cards were done by Friedrich Schmiedl himself. He was disappointed as he did not sell a single set of these cards.
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Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 07-20-2023 02:37 PM
Wow! Thanks for that Walter.Do you have any bibliographic recommendations or internet resource links for Friedrich Schmiedl? Google searches are extremely limited in scope — I usually get redirected to the Wikipedia article which is terse to the point of unhelpfulness. |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 07-21-2023 06:29 PM
Karl Trobas wrote two thick books about Friedrich Schmiedl, his life and his rocket mail. Both are in German language. Raketen, Raketenpost, Postraketen, 1992 + 1998. In my "Pioneer Rocket Mail & Space Mail" compendium and catalogue you find Schmiedl's biography as well as detailed descriptions of his rocket mail till 1950. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 07-22-2023 04:12 AM
I've been trying to get a copy of your book for a while now. I shall also be on the hunt for Trobas now that I know they exist. Thanks, much appreciated. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 09-04-2023 08:42 AM
I'm very pleased to have recently acquired a pair of Schmiedl space postcards. I now know (thanks Walter) that these were produced by Friedrich Schmiedl himself. Also, I've been searching in vain for quite a while to acquire anything related to the Kosmos-110 Veterok and Ugulyok dog mission, a forerunner of the Soyuz manned spaceflights, ever since in the early days of my obsession of collecting space launch covers I bitterly regret having turned down buying a picture postcard of the two dogs (with the reverse side being a posted Radio Ham QSL card) on the grounds it didn't fit the Astrophilately definition of a "launch cover." I've since learnt to relax my parameters, and although I know this pair are not welcome in strict Astrophilatelic terms, in less precise terms of collecting, I love them. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 03-26-2024 09:16 AM
I have managed to acquire what is probably the earliest issue from Friedrich Schmiedl. It is not a postcard, as most of his latest issues are, but a cover (sealed, but empty).It is also addressed directly to himself at St Georgen ob Murau, as opposed to the usual Frau Jenny Schmiedl, Krieglach address - although it does have the usual Krieglach cancellation. But specifically, it is a commemorative cover for the launch of Sputnik 1. Apart from the famous Summers Arkansas covers I believe it is the closest in date and location to the launch venture with a specialised contemporaneus vignette and cachet that celebrates the launch of the the world's first satellite. Erinnerungsbrief "Roter Mond am Himmel!"
Souvenir letter "Red Moon in the Heavens!"  |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 03-28-2024 04:23 AM
Sputnik was launched on 4.10.1957 at 22:28 Moscow time. At Kosmodrom Baiknour it was already 5.10.1957, 0:28.In my collection I am showing a 5.10.1957 commercial letter from Moscow to Buchau in Western Germany. Many years ago I purchased it at a space auction in the US. Although the 4.10.1957 was a Friday, this cover was the closest to a Sputnik launch cover I ever came across. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 03-28-2024 06:29 AM
Very very nice; if your cover letter mentioned Sputnik, I concede, as Moscow is so much closer to the launch site, that your cover is superior to mine. Any chance of an image please Walter? |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 03-28-2024 08:55 AM
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cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 03-28-2024 09:19 AM
Alan, it would be very easy to add a Sputnik cachet. However, I decided to keep it originally as it was posted. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1764
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 03-28-2024 09:47 AM
Both are outstanding covers Walter and Alan!I really admire your detective work in getting as close to the right date and location as possible. Especially after my experiences chasing 1940's-1050's rocketplane flight dated covers from/near the tiny desert settlement of Muroc, CA... |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 03-28-2024 10:13 AM
quote:
Originally posted by cosmos-walter:
I decided to keep it originally as it was posted.
A decision of which I heartily approve. It does have the Kniga International hand stamp too which I think enhances it....and Dennis; yes it is a great feeling after a long search to finally find 'the cover.' |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 842
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 03-29-2024 02:27 PM
Alan, this Sputnik cover has a 20 K stamp on the back with the same postmark as on the front. The red "Moscow international" postmark was used only on incoming mail. |
Axman
Member Posts: 427
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 03-29-2024 02:51 PM
I meant the long cartouche in black on the front of your cover: Международный or Mezhdunarodnyy translates to International. |
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